Asian Card Games - * Featuring: Big 2 * !

Hey All, I thought I'd pass along this invite from another meetup group. Big 2 is a game I have known for years and have played from Taiwan to the US... on different occassions, but mainly with family. It is really a fun card game, so I would like to play/teach this game - to share the fun from my childhood! smile This card game is a climbing game probably originated in coastal China around 1980; it became very popular in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taiwan and also in the Philippines and Singapore; it has also spread to some western countries, including the United States, but primarily kept within the Asian communities. However, please note that there are many other names for this game in both Chinese and English, but the most commonly used term in the US is Big 2 so we use it for the sake of simplicity. As often encountered in many card games, there are numerous variations in playing the game of Big 2, depending on family traditions and regional background of play as well. For consistency, we will play by the rules as posted on Pagat, or each table can reach a consensus on a variant in game play. Big 2 is best for four players, each playing for themselves. Though it could also be played with 3 or even 2 (or more as I've experienced before). The object of the game is to be the first to get rid of all of your cards, by playing them to the table. Cards can be played singly or in certain combinations (poker hands). If you cannot be first to play all your cards, then your aim is to have as few cards as possible when another player finishes. This will prove to be a fun afternoon and a great opportunity to make friends, immerse yourself in a different culture, and have a cross-cultural dialogue with cards! laughing I will print out only a limited number of the game rules, so please click into and browse the links to read/print the rules and information on Big 2 (or another particular game of your interest, as below). Other Asian Card Games that we can also play/teach, that we have played in the past include: • Sevens • Chinese Ten • Chinese Poker Please Note: Though the start time is set at 1:30PM, I plan on personally arriving ahead of time perhaps 12-12:30 to try the lunch there! So if you come early, you are free to join me for food and conversation, and we can even perhaps start playing in advance! FYI - if you have never been to KoKo and you love sweets, you are in for a treat! The Asian bakery items and bubble teas and such that they offer in variety are not only intricately made, but as delicious as they look! biggrin The $1 fee is waived for this meetup, since a mixed crowd will be invited & expected. An invitation will be extended to the new Chinese/Mandarin Meetup "Po Tung Hwa - Cleveland" and other cultural meetups, such as The Cleveland Japanese Meetup Group and the Cleveland Cross-Cultural Meetup Group. An informal invitation will also be extended to an Asian Pacific affinity group of a company in the area, as well as the Facebook group Taiwanese American Professionals - Cleveland area.

We're about:

Meet diverse people to satisfy your curiosity about any specific culture or multiple-cultural interest. The goal is to have all world cultures, as well as regional ones around the U.S, made available to or be represented by members,. Through simply getting together over dinner, at movies, seeing live music or visiting the many neighborhoods or festivals in NE Ohio the group just wants to make available for its members the kinds of culture we might not run across in our normal day. If it fosters a bit of understanding of the world outside NE Ohio for us, then more the better. But at least let's check out some of the variety this region has to offer.

"The wise man belongs to all countries, for the home of a great soul is the whole world" ~Democritus

"Hail, Hail, Freedonia!"~The Marx Brothers

"Be the change you wish to see reflected in the world." ~Mahatma Gandhi

"We have the ability to achieve, if we master the necessary goodwill, a common global society blessed with a shared culture of peace that is nourished by the ethnic, national and local diversities that enrich our lives." ~Mahnaz Afkhami

"My country is the world; my countrymen are mankind." ~William Lloyd Garrison